Shattered
by CrimsonShadow345
Summary: When the life of a Lyoko Warrior is shattered beyond repair, how will the others react?Rated T for angst


Nothingness _

The quad of Kadic was empty, save for William Dunbar. Who wandered around the trees in search of comfort in solace. Ever since he had been freed from the control of that...damned A.I. No one had accepted him, All they saw was the clone..the idiot clone. The one who took his place for what felt like eternity, and resulted in him being seen like an Idiot. Another boy was watching him from the corner, a brunette with a predatory grin. He always hated William for trying to steal Yumi from him, for being too damn reckless and getting himself caught and even if he had no choice he hated him for being XANA's ally.

He stepped a little closer, thinking if he should really do this or not. William loooked down at his necklace, a silver chain with a cross on it, a man hanging from it. When William was distracted the kid lunged, pinning him down on the tree and delivering blow after blow to his face and chest.

As much as William was a prominent fighter, and could easily kill this kid who was beating him. He could't for a few reasons, the obvious one was that his he was pinned and had no room to move his hands. But the other was that he felt while he was under the control of XANA, he had done enough hurt to this kid and his gang. He simply took the beating, a few tears of physical and mental pain dripping out of his eyes. The beating had felt like they lasted an eternity as Ulrich delivered a sharp kick to his ribs, causing him to shout and double over. A blonde, spectacled child walked by and saw this and ran over. Pulling Ulrich away from the ebony haired child as he walked away, trembling. When he was gone the blonde got in his face, yelling at a suprising tone.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?" Jeremy screamed, and Ulrich only growled "He's still with XANA...I just know it." A raven-haired girl walked over and Jeremy explained what happened and she backhandedly slapped Ulrich dead across the face. "You IDIOT, we killed XANA remember?" Ulrich growled and walked away. Jeremy tried to see where William was going, but he could not find him. William himself was headed towards his dorm, he entered to see everything was back to normal. He removed the pendant from his neck and turned it face down on his nightstand, He shouldn't have to see what he was about to do. He opened the bottom compartment in his dresser to find something that suprisingly Jim hadn't taken away. It was a pistol, a Colt 45. Painted silver to resemble his favorite gun, the Beretta. He loaded it with but one bullet and stuffed it in his coat.

The ebony haired child made it to the factory, and reluctantly turned on the supercomputer. It was activated and he slipped out. Back in the quad Aelita got some kind of palpitation in the back of her head. "What's wrong..?" Jeremy asked frantically as Aelita gained control of her breath. "The supercomputer...it's...it's on." "Knew it..." Ulrich growled as they ran, finding that no one was there. "Yumi, go shut it off." Yumi rode the elevator downstairs and after a few minutes the display went dark. She got back "Was he on Lyoko?" Yumi asked and Jeremy shook his head, he wasn't there so that was a good thing. Either way it didn't matter, XANA was dead anyway. The gang walked back to Kadic as they heard a single gunshot go off, and Yumi jerked slightly. "What was that..?" Odd asked, and they shrugged they walked. When they walked back to Kadic they were greeted by Jim Morales, looking considerably angry...and somewhat upset. _"Where were you five?"_ He asked, and shook his head._ "You know what? I don't care. Just get to the gym, the principal has an...important anouncement."_ They walked, and all 500 students were sitting down, wondering and chatting about what this all was about. William's parents were in a corner, his mother crying into her husband's chest. The five didn't know what it was about, but they looked at eachother with concern. Principal Delmas looked at them _"Ok. Now we can begin..."_ he said as the five sat down.

"_It is to my sorrow to announce, that one of our students, William Dunbar...has died several hours ago. "_ The student body went silent, and Yumi gasped, covering her mouth with her hand quickly. The principal breathed, trying not to break down as the more burly beside him placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "He...he committed suicide via gunshot to the heart." Wide eye stared at the man at the podium as he spoke again "Classes will be suspended until Monday, the funeral will be held tomorrow. We will be taking you there, if you wish. You are dismissed..." The student's walked along silently, and there was silence in the Quad. Milly was first to cry, leaning on the wall and crying loudly and Herve and Nicolas were silent, unsure of how to express themselves. In a corner, Aelita held Jeremy tight, weeping into his chest. "_H-he...he just got home."_ She said as she buried his face in his shoulder, and Jeremy whispered. _"I know..."_ and he too started to weep, softly rubbing her back and cradling her in his arms. Odd was sitting down with Sam, she was crying but Odd was too, slient. He looked sad, and he was. But he hadn't really gotten to know William that well outside of fighting him on Lyoko. A massive amount of guilt built up in Ulrich's stomach as he approached Yumi and placed his hand on her shoulder. She violently pushed Ulrich away, her eyes red and puffy and her voice shaking.

_"I-I'll n-never forgive you for this..._." She walked away and Sissi ran over to him, holding him and crying into his neck. She wanted to be in the arms of her crush, like always. But this time it was for a reason, she was genuinely saddened and shocked by William's suicide. Ulrich stroked her hair, whispering words of comfort to her. Most people had went to bed early that night, and Yumi went home right after. Her mother and father were out, and her brother had comforted her. "_It'll be alright...I promise."_ Hiroki said as he lightly rubbed her back, she forced a smile and spoke softly to him _"I'm going to go to bed, night Hiroki."_ Hiroki was holding her still, and he said softly. _"Alright, but if you start to cry again i'm coming in. Love you, Yumi."_ Yumi smiled and kissed his forehead and he kissed her cheek before she got up out of his arms and went back to bed fully clothed, and she held on to the Totoro doll for dear life. Her dream became a nightmare as she got a vision of the past...

_ A crying, raven-haired teenager sat down underneath a tree, weeping loudly which nearly drowned out the ambience of the forest. He stopped crying for a second as he recalled various flashes of memory, being brainwashed by XANA, riding on the Kolossus, the many times he almost willingly hurt the ones he cared out and briefly coming back to normal for a second. He took off his jacket, revealing his cut up arms. William looked up and sighed, thinking of the Lyoko Warriors. Ulrich, one of the most powerful of the group. The strong and silent type. He recalled the joker by the name of Odd, who always got on his nerves while under XANA's control on Lyoko. Jeremy...he didn't have much to say about Jeremy..he didn't know much about him, but he wondered how he got so smart or was he just born that way? Aelita, sweet and innocent Aelita, William mentally apologized over and over again for the way he fought, and tried to kill her all to force the death of her father..and how he had sacrificed himself to help bring him back. Yumi...his Yumi, how he would regret never telling her how he felt. He remembered the times they hugged, and that one time she kissed his cheek. The crippling lonliness faded away for a second, but it returned a moment later as he pulled the gun out of his jacket pocket and stared down the barrel for a few seconds, pointing it to his chest. _

_He breathed for a second, sighing in relief that this would all be over. He uttered a silent prayer of repentance and then fired into his chest. The pain was like daggers as blood spilled onto his shirt and jacket. But it was over in a few minutes as William managed to smile, being wrapped in comforting sleep, and light._

Yumi shot up, shivering at the nightmare and began to weep. Hiroki heard it after three minutes and rushed into her room and she welcomed her little brother with a teary smile and open arms. He rushed into bed with her, laying his head on her chest and looking up at her. _"T-thanks..."_ she sniffled, Hiroki nodded his head and eventually nodded off himself in Yumi's arms, with Yumi following suit a few minutes later. Her parents came in a moment after, gently placed a blanket on top of them, kissed them both on the forehead and went to their room. The next morning thunder rolled and rain drizzled, fitting for today. Kadic's students and faculty were dressed in black, formal attire. The funeral was quiet, with some of the students crying softly. A man in a black robe and white collar walked up to the podium and said some prayers and speeches for the boy in discussion.

_"Dearly beloved. We gather here today to not only mourn, . But to celebrate the life of William Dunbar. Cut short by the confines of his mind, depression can be a cruel thing. Lord, please send comfort to his family and let the angels wrap their wings around William, Amen."_ Several _"Amen's..."_ came out from the crowd as William's parents walked up to the podium and his father spoke. _"Before he left...our little boy wrote a note, including his will. He wanted us to read it..."_ He said as he handed it to his mother and she read.

_"Hey guys...I'm really sorry about all of this. But the amount of stress in my life, pain and lonliness is just too much. Don't blame anyone else for this.." Yumi glared daggers at Ulrich, who shrunk away from her gaze. "It's only my fault, and even though I don't have much i'm leaving some things behind to the ones I really care about. To my friend Milly, I leave you half of the money I had in my bank account, which is about 5000 dollars. Buy yourself a new teddybear or something."_ Milly blushed, even in death he was a joker. _"To my amazing Mom and Dad, you get the rest of the money and almost everything in my room, including my bed and the room itself once it's cleared out. And too my five best friends. Odd D__ella Robbia, Aelita Stones, Jeremy Belpois, Yumi Ishiyama and Ulrich Stern." The rest of the class stared at them "I'm sorry..for all the trouble I caused you."_

The group looked at eachother. "_To Yumi, you can have the TV that I bought, and the Katana my dad gave me.."_ Yumi nodded in thanks._ "To Odd, you can have all the comic books I saved and the old collar of my dog, Give it as a gift to Kiwi."_

Odd grinned at the notion of what he recived as his mother started talking again._ "To Jeremy, it was fun learning with computers with you. You get my laptop, my cellphone and my Ipod."_ Jeremy nodded, recalling the times he had taught William how to use a computer."_To Aelita, I know you like music. So you can have all the CD's I had."_ Aelita smiled _"To Ulrich, I know we weren't the best of friends. But I also know your family is just as religious as I am myself, so you can have my pendant.."_ Ulrich nodded as his father handed it too him and he put it on.

"W-would anyone like to say a few words for my son...?" His mother asked, and Ulrich stood, walking up to the podium. _"I have a confession to make...Me and William got into a fight several hours before all of this happened...William, if you can here me. I just want you to know i'm really sorry...for everything, for all of the horrible crap I put you through_."

Ulrich shook hands with his Mr. Dunbar and hugged Mrs. Dunbar, and sat down next to Yumi. She kissed him on the cheek as the funeral proceeded, and when the final chapters of William's life came to a close.

So did Ulrich Stern's guilt.


End file.
